by Eric Blume
Since Parasite's historic Best Picture win this past Sunday, the heat surrounding it has not let up. Though the movie is already available on DVD and Blu-Ray, it will expand to 2000 screens this weekend in US theaters and a Criterion Collection release has also been announced (along with Memories of Murder, Bong's original breakthrough title). Given the hoopla, the industry trade magazines are falling over themselves to write stories about the change that may come for international titles. The Hollywood Reporter has an interesting article proclaiming that we'll be seeing many more foreign film titles in the American marketplace in the next few years.
This article gives big credit to Netflix for "global programming" that is helping people get over the "one-inch barrier" (i.e., subtitles) that has plagued marketing of foreign product over the decades. It's an interesting take...
It's true that Netflix now carries both drama and comedy series from all of the globe, and it's not uncommon to talk to someone who watches Scandanavian thrillers or French policiers in series formats.
THR also had an article about the pre-sales hype for Iranian director Asghar Farhadi's next film An Hero, claiming that due to the global success of his two Oscar winners, A Separation and The Salesman, his next film is eagerly awaited by distributors. This in spite of the fact that his last film, Everybody Knows, made less than $3 million here in the United States, even with internationally popular stars Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem. But the article implies that Parasite's win has opened up new doors.
Asghar Farhadi's next film is on the way. Can he win a third Oscar?
It all sounds very exciting for us cinephiles, but are we jumping the gun? Is Parasite a fluke, in that people in Hollywood were peer-pressured into watching it, since everyone was telling them it was a masterpiece? Parasite became a cause celebre -- people who rarely watch foreign films watched it and then got to congratulate themselves on how cultured they were that they loved this "exotic" foreign film.
Luckily, nothing takes away from the fact that a genuine masterpiece actually won the Oscar for Best Picture. Whether or not it opens the floodgates for distribution of more international films here in America remains a big question. Do you have hope that it will?